2254 Electricians/plumbers in Abruzzo

I am in the process of buying a house in the Abruzzo area near Sulmona. I am just making a small enquiry wondering whether anyone is interested in DIY plumbing. It would be a very basic package that would be offered for people that want the pipes installed for a toilet, sink, bath and heating system, done very cheaply. For example you can get electric pressurised water heaters for about 100 euros. I have been in England recently discovering the astronomic prices for water heaters and boilers here. In France I know you can get a pressurised electric water heater for a fraction of the price...I dont know much about plumbing but i have done it all myself in a house renovation project in France, with all the pictures to prove it, including doing the drains and waste, all the pipes, connection with electricity for hot water heating, and i know that it can be done very much more cheaply, compared to normal plumber prices which i see here in the UK. The difference is that of course i am just self-taught and not certified. So i was wondering if there was any kind of demand for this sort of thing in the Abruzzo or neighbouring areas for perhaps English-speaking people buying properties which need renovating...

Hello Jackie, happy new year and hope you had a nice xmas !! Congratulation on your new house !! :o)

Do you have any ideas on what heating system you’d like to have installed? Depending on how long and often you are going to be in your Italian house you might want to install different heating system, ie gas boiler - wood burner etc…
If you like I can check with my contractors and see if anyone is available to come and have a look at the properties and give you an estimate.
PM or e-mail me.
Cheers

Stef,

I see from the bottom of your post, you are advertising a website from where one can buy houses.

As you may well know, there has been many a discussion on this forum regarding bogus estate agents in Italy, or middlemen acting as if they are bonafide agents, taking a cut of the agents fee.

Can you re-assure us that you are a qualified estate agent & not a middleman taking a cut. As you say on your webpage, you only charge 3% of sale price. I hope this is not an 'introductory fee'.

Grazie l'anticipo
Rob

Hi Rob, hope you liked the web site :o)
I know they have been so many discussion on this forum about dubious agents and all that and hope not to bring it all back.

We do advertise houses on our web site but we don t advertise our self as Italian Estate Agents, we are a registered UK company and we are regulated by UK law. We offer a variety of services and we seek professional advice-cooperation from different professional bodies depending up on requirement. Qualified estate agent-architects-builders and notary cooperate with us depending on the requirement of the service that we provide. We are the main boy that the client-buyer can complaints (take to court) if things don t go the way they expect. We take full responsibility for the services we offer this goes from plumbing a washing machine to build a house from scratch. This (English ) liability is reinsurance to our clients that goes beyond the simple certification of been a qualified estate agent. Our confidence in taking this responsibility is built over 20 years of experience and trusting relationships with our partners.
I know there are many well qualified estate agent out there that their professionalism and honesty is outstanding but we can’t generalise, you can’t label any “middle man” BAD and “estate agent” GOOD.
I understand your point, or anyone that is/will be in your situation, wanting to make potential buyers weary of the many pitfalls in using someone not qualified or pay the middle man when there is not need for it ….. I completely agree with you. There are many peps out there that are only interested in money but this is dishonesty and unfortunately goes with “estate agents” and “middle man” “builders” “plumber” is up to the individual that does the trading to be honest. Incompetence and inexperience can also be found anywhere. Everyone is free to operate as they wish; after all we live in a free society. The main advise is however to look round do your research and do not jump in to conclusions. Our percentage (is only indicative on the web site) is not a introductionary fee or a cut but a rough idea on our service charge. You won’t need to pay any additional percentage or fee to anyone.
I hope however that your purchase went well and that you enjoy your new houses, and for your interest if you like to see how we operate we might be doing some big work down the road from your house in Italy, will let you know, and probably after you looked at it you might have a different views in middle man work :o) can even get back to your house to see if you have been taking the right precautions to avoid pitfalls and then we can go for a peroni in Montebello !!

PS L’abito non fa’ il Monaco !!

Ciao

Stef,

Forgive me for being dense, but;

You advertise houses for sale in Italy,
You say you are not an Italian estate agent,
You say you have a UK registered company,

Forgive my impertinence, but;

What is the UK registered company registered as doing?
Are you an English estate agent?
Where do you get the houses in Italy from?

If you are neither an Italian or English estate agent, then who is your governing body, or regulator, to whom one can go to for consumer protection & gain some form of confidence.
What sort of training/qualifications do you have?

For your info., no, my purchase did not go well at all, which is the reason i take a close interest & very skeptical view of 'go betweens'& middlemen', so future purchasers of Italian houses do not suffer the same fate as we did.

We did have a smile on our face though when we read the bit about 'it's up to the trader that does the trading to be honest'. If you had followed the thread appertaining to Italian estate agents, you would realise how naive that statement is. Add to that Ronalds warning re.,Dodgy estate agents. Nobody, only yourself, has labelled anyone, anything, good or bad. All i aim to do is make readers of this forum aware of Pseudo websites that LOOK like estate agents & are not, but are just middlemen jumping on the Italian goldrush. If people still want to proceed & purchase a house with this type of 'Company',, then as my colleague Charles Joseph would say...CAVEAT EMPTOR.

I have a holiday home in abruzzo just got back - heat my small house with a pellet burning stove - great as it has a hopper and feeds in the pellets and stays in all night or we go out for the day and return to a warm house - also have calour gas heaters - use these for chily autumn days when I dont light the stufa.
take some hotwaterbottles and I found sleeping in my tracksuit helped.
Pamela

Thanks for the input, I think I might take my salopettes to sleep in never mind tracksuits!!

I would be grateful if you could ask your guys Andy if they do travel or even if they know anyone in this area.

Cheers both

jackie

jackie...here in feb last year we had temps daytime of almost 70 f ... so maybe dont despair....

now you i presume have bought an older house and obviously the easiest way of heating is to have some wood delivered and light the fire...

it will make it look warm at least...

the other choice is if you fly into pescara....visit the castorama with your hire car and pick up the calor gas heater... when you get to your house visit the local iron monger and hire the bottle...as in england deposit to be payed about e30 plus bottle depending on size ...about the same...

best option for you.... find a local hotel/agriturismo ...stay there and visit house each day to do your work.... because it will be cold at night... agriturismo in our area charge around e20 per night per room.... a small price to pay for a bit of warmth and comfort.... the other thing is if you can find something local and start talking to the people it will be amazing what you will get to learn...and who can come and help you.... with your various projects...so it might be worth the money in local info alone...

good luck... i live in the north of abruzzo and would not be able to help with any suggestions on workers..... hence my lack of really useful advice

Stef,

As, i am sure you will agree, the purchase of a house in Italy IS the making, or breaking, of peoples Italian dream.

So can i respectfully ask for a reply to my previous post.

Grazie l'anticipo

Rob

We're interested in hearing from you again too Stef. We've been following this thread and are interested in your answers to Rob's questions.

Thanks in advance!
John and Dee

Hi andy s,

Thank you for your suggestion.

Regards,
John and Dee

Ciao Andy,

This whole site is called a Forum, this is called a thread mate.

Two ways of posting is,
1, Start a new thread on any subject you like.
2, Respond to a post already on the thread.

I did the latter. That big drum, as you call it, is the major factor in the biggest decision of future ex-pats lives. So just 'cos it is of no interest to you, does that mean it's boring?

Saluti
Rob